WC: Canada falls to U.S. in exhibition
Canadian Press
8/23/2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio (CP) - If there is a weakness on Canada's talented entry for this year's World Cup of Hockey, it may possibly lie with a young blue-line that is largely wet behind the ears when it comes to this elite level of play.
The United States exposed that in Monday night's 3-1 exhibition win over the defending Olympics champions, their aggressive forecheck against Canada spear-headed by two forwards continually flying into the zone and pressuring the Canadian blue-line corps.
It led to a series of turnovers and three goals in the final 30 minutes of Monday's game, leaving Canadian head coach Pat Quinn less than impressed.
``We need to learn from this, we better learn from this,'' Quinn said.
``We were slow moving the puck,'' he added. ``They surprised us with how aggressive they were in their puck pursuit.''
Veterans Scott Niedermayer and Adam Foote are the only two players over 30 on Canada's blue-line, although Ed Jovanovski and Eric Brewer are also Olympic holdovers. Wade Redden, Robyn Regehr, Scott Hannan and Jay Bouwmeester completed a defence group overwhelmed Monday night.
``They came with two guys and really gave us some trouble down low,'' said Jovanovski.
But Quinn refused to lay the blame solely on his blue-line corps.
``We're going to have to have improvement throughout our lineup,'' Quinn said. ``The big thing for me was how we approached the game. It looked like we took it a little easy, thinking we could win on skill alone.
``You can't do that at this level.''
Bill Guerin of the Dallas Stars, Brian Rolston of the Boston Bruins and defenceman Jordan Leopold of the Calgary Flames scored for the defending World Cup champion U.S., who outshot Canada 34-20 including 26-11 over the final 40 minutes.
Star defenceman Brian Leetch of the Toronto Maple Leafs added two assists for the Americans, who expect a tougher battle when they travel to Ottawa on Wednesday night to face Canada at the Corel Centre.
``This is just a step in the process,'' Leetch said, downplaying his team's win. ``You want to win, there's no question, but just like us, they're trying to get ready for Day 10 when the tournament starts for real.''
Dany Heatley of the Atlanta Thrashers scored the lone goal for the Canadians, who played without Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux as well as Hart Trophy winner Martin St. Louis and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Brad Richards.
That line will be back in the lineup Wednesday, and that won't be all.
``I think you'll probably see some more changes,'' Quinn said.
Monday was indeed a sluggish effort by the Canadians, who were held without a shot on goal for the first 12:22 of the third period.
Rick DiPietro of the New York Islanders got the win, playing 40 minutes of shutout hockey, stopping 11 shots, after replacing Ty Conklin of the Edmonton Oilers at the beginning of the second period.
Olympic starter Martin Brodeur looked sharp in the Canadian goal, stopping all 18 shots he faced in 30 minutes 18 seconds of work.
The New Jersey Devils star made several noteworthy saves, stopping Brett Hull and Mike Modano from in-close and kicking away a dangerous slapshot from Chris Chelios in the first period, and in the second period flashed the glove on a screened shot from the point by Ken Klee.
Canada came out strong and enjoyed the better scoring chances in the opening period, the defence pinching in at the right time and keeping the offensive pressure on the Americans.
Heatley, the MVP of this spring IIHF world championship in Prague, opened the scoring on a Canadian power play midway through the first period, rifling a loose puck in the slot over Conklin's right shoulder.
But the Americans charged out of the gates in the second period and outshot Canada 14-8, throwing their body around a little more and keeping a the Canadian blue-line on its heels.
``We controlled the first period but backed off in the second period and it cost us the game,'' said Heatley. ``We let off and they took it to us.''
Roberto Luongo replaced Brodeur midway through the second period and promptly gave up a goal on his first shot just seven seconds after stepping on the ice, Guerin's weak backhand sliding under the Florida Panthers netminder to tie it 1-1.
``I wasn't ready, that's what happened,'' Luongo said matter-of-factly. ``Right off the bat it was a bad goal. But I'll be ready Wednesday.''
Luongo is expected to split Wednesday's game with Jose Theodore of the Montreal Canadiens.<
The Americans took the lead with just under a minute to go in the middle period, Rolston's wrist shot from the high slot deflecting off Kirk Maltby and beating Luongo over his right shoulder. Luongo headed to the dressing room shaking his head, having given up two goals on four shots.
``It's tough to come off the bench like that but there's no excuses,'' Luongo said.
Leopold made it 3-1 at 13:03 of the third, snapping a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle and beating Luongo stick-side.
The forward line of Simon Gagne, Joe Sakic and Jarome Iginla, so dominant in scoring four of Canada's five goals in the 5-2 win over the U.S. to capture gold at Salt Lake, was largely ineffective. It's not every day that you see a player of Sakic's calibre pass the puck in his teammate's skates on more than one occasion.
``We didn't create enough,'' said Iginla. ``But I know we can better. I hope we stick together.''
Canada had a few thousand supporters wearing the Maple Leaf among the crowd of 14,817 at Nationwide Arena, well short of a sellout in the 18,500-seat rink, the home of the NHL's Blue Jackets.
Notes: Both teams were allowed to dress 22 players each, up from the 20 they'll be allowed when the tournament officially kicks off Aug. 30. Canada went with 12 forwards and eight defencemen while the Americans went 13-7 ... In Lemieux's absence, Sakic wore the `C' for Canada, while Niedermayer and Foote were the alternates ... The crowd booed when it was announced Lemieux was a healthy scratch.
Cheers,
Aquaman
